Saturday, April 16, 2005

Sabbath greetings through SMS

Sydney's Great Synagogue has become the first Jewish community in the world to send Sabbath greetings via SMS. The new leader of the community - 39-year-old British-born and Oxford-educated Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence - said the traditional Sabbath greeting "Shabbat Shalom" was sent to in more than 700 messages. "Everybody has a mobile phone. It's a way of getting to people.", said Lawrence, who uses PowerPoint presentations during services and offers online Jewish education programs with lecture notes delivered to the participants' Palm Pilots beforehand.